Fútbol Madness (-Andrew)

On Wednesday night, Jess and I got invited to go to a soccer game with some friends from work and we leapt at the opportunity to see a new aspect of the city. We brought along a friend of ours named Lindsay, passing through Iquitos on the way to Lima and then Quito. Lindsay is a fellow Fulbright Scholar who is working as a linguist to document a nearly extinct language in a town in the southwestern part of our region. This was the first soccer game we had heard about since our arrival in October, and it turned out to be an international friendly game (i.e. not a World Cup qualifier) between the national teams of Peru and Costa Rica.

We arrived at the stadium a little before the ticket time of 7:00 to wait in a long, curving line through the dusty street, which periodically broke to allow a motorcycle to get through. When we got through the gates we were each handed a large (6 foot long) cylindrical inflated piece of plastic to wave in the stands. The fascination with disposal plastic short-term entertainment devices is always somewhat depressing; I’m sure we’ll see these plastic bags floating down the river soon. The bags were flying before the national anthem and most people had lost theirs before the start of the game.

The Iquitos stadium is one of the places I was invited to play soccer in earlier this year, so I was already somewhat acquainted with it. It’s a large, clean stadium, and unlike what I’ve seen on television from stadiums in Mexico and other Latin American countries, there were no barriers between the fans and the field (usually there is a tall chain-link fence with barbed wire to separate the fans from the players). Except for the occasional plastic bottle thrown on to the edge of the field, the crowd was remarkably better-behaved than I expected, and was much more reasonable than some drunken New Zealand rugby matches I’ve been to. It was more like a Carolina game- some good loud cheering for the home team, but they also clapped when the opposing team came on the field. Plus they were great at doing the wave around the stadium. However, some of the fans (mostly in the cheaper seats) made monkey noises at the Costa Rican players of African ancestry a couple times during the game, which startled and offended the three Americans. There's a lot of ways in which the isolation of Iquitos contributes to widespread prejudices.

Our tickets cost only 25 soles (about 8 dollars) which were not as cheap as the 10 sole seats behind the goals at either end, but not as expensive as the 50 and 100 sole seats directly across from us that appeared to be identical. However, the players did face that direction during the national anthem. It was amusing, however, that the 10 sole seats filled up and they let several hundred people down onto the track and up into the expensive seats. So we felt good about our choice. Just like the US, there were vendors walking around with food, however most it was things like fried platano chips and tropical fruit flavored popsicles (YUM!).

Peru wore white jerseys with red details while Costa Rica wore red jerseys with blue fringes in case you’re trying to imagine this or watch our youtube videos. I picked out a favorite player on the Peruvian side and decided to cheer for him the rest of the game. My reasons were 1) He played defense (like me) 2) He had bright blue shoes 3) His last name was Pizarro (for those of you who don't know, Francisco Pizarro was the Spanish conquistador who nearly single handedly-along with his germs-brought down the Inkan empire- not a role model, but interesting irony). I convinced Jess and Lindsay to cheer for him, but our officemates refused. They decided instead to call him “Sao”- the equivalent here of “Gay” (not necessarily having anything to do with his sexual orientation, but still meant as an insult- it's a pretty common expression here that Jess and I have not gotten used to, especially since it makes otherwise rational people sound like middle schoolers). Pizarro eventually came forward to score on a header, reinforcing my favorable opinion of him (although our colleagues disputed that he actually scored the goal).

The game was fairly relaxed, with both teams passing back to their defenses often (Jess called it “lazy” in comparison to soccer in the villages). It became even more “strategic” (my word) after Peru went ahead by a couple goals. There were some sporadic fireworks after the scores. Peru eventually won 3-1 and I decided to spring for a Pizarro jersey outside the stadium. Tonight I have to teach an Ingles lesson, for which I usually write out a conversation. Here is this week’s:

Conversación:
Peruano: Let’s go to a soccer game tonight.
Americano: That sounds fun! I’ve never watched a soccer game.
P: Okay. Meet me at the stadium at 7 o’clock. Go to the east entrance. Wait until you see me before you go in. Don’t buy a ticket, I already have one for you.
..…
A: This is a big stadium! Who is playing in this game?
P: Peru and Costa Rica are playing. Peru is wearing white and Costa Rica is wearing red.
A: And the grass is very green! Is the Peruvian team good?
P: They were as good as Brazil in December and they are better than the United States.
A: Yes, we are better at another kind of football.
P: That is because you are all fat.
A: Who is that player with the blue shoes? He is the tallest.
P: His name is Pizarro. When he was younger, he played in Lima. He plays defense and he will play in the World Cup.
A: He scored a goal! I hope he will score again. What is the World Cup?
P: It is the biggest soccer tournament in the world. It is held every four years. The next one will be in South Africa in 2010 (Two thousand-ten).
A: Our most important tournaments in the United States are happening right now. They are the NCAA basketball tournaments, one for men and one for women. Some people call it “March Madness.”
P: Who are you cheering for in those tournaments?
A: My favorite is the team from my university in North Carolina. Both the men’s and women’s teams are very good.
P: Well, I hope your teams win.
A: Thanks! I hope that Peru will win the World Cup!

Laugh if you will, but let’s see you write out an informative, teaching lesson every week and teach it in a foreign language (Sermons don’t count).

Go Tarheels! (and wildcats)